The Earth Science Picture of the Day (EPOD) highlights the diverse processes and phenomena which shape our planet and our lives. EPOD will collect and archive photos, imagery, graphics, and artwork with short explanatory captions and links exemplifying features within the Earth system. The community is invited to contribute digital imagery, short captions and relevant links.

Contrail and Shadow Over Smoke Creek Desert, Nevada

Looking north from Smoke Creek Desert, Nevada, I noticed this jet contrail accompanied by its hazy shadow. The late afternoon Sun is casting the shadow of the aircraft's contrail onto a cirrostratus cloud deck. Although the contrail shadow appears to be higher than the cloud deck, it's at a lower altitude (or at least a similar altitude). The contrail's zigs and zags match up quite well with those of its much fainter shadow. Typically, the synchronization of the contrail and shadow are move obvious when the Sun's higher in the sky because from the viewer's perspective there's less distortion. Photo taken on March 8, 2014.